Electric Vehicles And Their Environmental Impact: A Complete

Electric vehicles and their environmental impact: a comprehensive analysis

Capstone Draft 1 Electric vehicles are advertised as being better for the environment when compared to a traditional vehicle that runs on gasoline. It is easy to make this assumption due to electric vehicles’’ lack of a tail pipe that releases substantial amounts of Carbon dioxide and Methane into the air. Automobiles that rely on internal combustion and the use of gasoline are often criticized for this due to their contribution to climate change. The idea of a clean method of transportation is appealing but is this claim really true? Although electric cars themselves do not contribute in a negative way to the environment, the “full environmental impact of electric vehicles depends very much on the cleanliness of the electricity grid” (Xinying Liu1).

Here in the U.S. as well in many other countries around the world, coal is still a major resource for producing electricity. With coal-fired power plants still being a major source for electricity, just the act of charging a phone can bring about pollution in the air. It has been found that since “coal-fired power plants still play a very important role in electricity generation, the environmental impact of electric vehicles is equivalent to, or even higher than that of cars running on internal combustion engines” (Xinying Liu1). This information was found through a study of electric vehicles in South Africa. In the study, researchers found that because a combination of low-quality coal and the lack of advanced exhaust clean-up technologies in coal-fired power plants resulted in electric vehicles adding to the amount of greenhouse gas emissions instead of reducing it.

Although these conditions are not present in all coal-fired power plants and there are many of them that do use clean coal and advanced exhaust clean-up technologies, greenhouse gas emissions are unavoidable and will continue to be a part of the process of generating electricity with this method. Even hydropower, which is often seen as a renewable source of energy, was found in one study that “the carbon footprint of hydropower exceeds that of all other renewable energy sources” (Scherer L). There are many variables at play that result in the emissions produced by hydropower plants to vary. Although they have the potential to be clean, renewable sources of energy, until more hydropower plants adopt the necessary low-cost technologies that are available to achieve the goal, they will continue to release carbon in substantial amounts.

Every source of electricity has a carbon footprint (see figure 1).Figure 1. Scherer L, Pfister S (2016) Hydropower's Biogenic Carbon Footprint. PLOS ONE 11(9): e. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone. These methods of generating electricity can also affect the environment in different ways. Luckily, it has been found that “there were no statistically significant differences between fish communities within depleted reaches and upstream and/or downstream ‘control’ sites before and after installation of [Hydroelectric Power] schemes” (Bilotta GS), but not all methods of generating electricity are this safe for the environment.

With the growing production of wind energy, more “birds and bats [have been killed] through direct impact with rotor blades” (Korner-Nievergelt F). If a nuclear power plant were to ever fail, it could potentially expose the surrounding people to large amounts of harmful radiation. The sources of power for an electric car have been discussed, but electric cars also make an impact on the environment even before hitting the road. It was found that “The global warming potential of the 26.6 kilowatt-hour (kWh), 253-kilogram battery pack [for use in electric vehicles] was... 4.6 [metric tons] of carbon dioxide equivalents…The production impacts of the battery were caused mainly by the production chains of battery cell manufacture, positive electrode paste, and negative current collector” (Ellingsen).

It is clear that the environmental impact of an electric car is mainly determined by its source of electricity. It has also been shown that the production of the battery of an electric car contributes to climate change with the result of a substantial amount of released Carbon dioxide. There is no doubt that electric cars have the potential to reduce our carbon footprint. With many advances and the adoption of new technologies and techniques, there is no doubt that this goal will be achieved; however, currently, it seems that electric cars don’t live up to that promise. Even if a majority of people were to switch to electric cars: The potential power demand of 100,000 electric cars charging simultaneously would be 440 GW… If charging coincided with peak demand, additional capacity would be needed.

At 236 MW per typical coal-fired plant (U.S. Energy Information Agency 2011a), these 100,000 cars would require the equivalent of 1,865 more power plants (Bailey). Current power plants already make a large contribution to climate change; having more than a thousand more of them won’t fix the issue. Until we switch to getting a majority of our power from clean, renewable resources, electric cars will only add to the problem of global warming, not bring us closer to it.

References

• Xinying Liu, Diane Hildebrandt, and David Glasser. "Environmental Impacts Of Electric Vehicles In South Africa." South African Journal Of Science 108.1 (2017): 1-6.
• Scherer L, Pfister S (2016) Hydropower's Biogenic Carbon Footprint. PLOS ONE 11(9): e. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.
• Bilotta GS, Burnside NG, Gray JC, Orr HG (2016) The Effects of Run-of-River Hydroelectric Power Schemes on Fish Community Composition in Temperate Streams and Rivers. PLOS ONE 11(5): e. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.
• Korner-Nievergelt F, Brinkmann R, Niermann I, Behr O (2013) Estimating Bat and Bird Mortality Occurring at Wind Energy Turbines from Covariates and Carcass Searches Using Mixture Models. PLOS ONE 8(7): e67997. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.
• Ellingsen, Linda Ager-Wick, et al. "Life Cycle Assessment Of A Lithium-Ion Battery Vehicle Pack." Journal Of Industrial Ecology 18. (2014): 174-187.
• Bailey, Rick, Brenda Howell, and Zachary Stanko. "Electric Cars As A Widespread Means Of Transportation." UMAP Journal 32.1 (2011): 89-107.
• U.S. Energy Information Administration. "Annual Energy Outlook 2011."
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• Hansen, J., Sato, M., & Ruedy, R. (2012). Perception of Climate Change. Journal of Climate, 25(24), 921-930.
• Rohde, R. A., & Muller, R. A. (2015). Air Pollution Ambient Monitoring and Climate Change. Environmental Science & Technology, 49(5), 2682–2688.